TABSA opens 8th computer lab at a rural school during visit to SA

Teachers Across Borders South Africa (TABSA) opened a computer lab at the Ensimbini Combined Primary School in Gamalakhe.

July 2014 - During their 14th visit to South Africa, Teachers Across Borders South Africa (TABSA) opened their eighth computer lab in a rural school, this time at the Ensimbini Combined Primary School in Gamalakhe. First Car Rental is the proud travel sponsor for TABSA and has been transporting the teachers to their various destinations during their teacher training workshop, which started on 30 June 2014 in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal.

The TABSA 2014 team

Sixteen Dell desktop computers with flat screen monitors and an LCD projector have now been installed in the school lab.

Ensimbini Primary School Principal, Simbongile Nxumalo, said that the computer lab would be of great benefit to pupils and that in time, Ensimbini plans to open the lab to the community where there is a high rate of unemployment.

TABSA 2014 Workshop

The Teachers Across Borders team kick-started their 2014 South Africa workshop in Pongola on 30 June 2014. This year 4 teachers from the United States and 5 teachers from Hawaii have given up their summer vacations to accompany Yunus Peer, founder of TABSA, to conduct the South African workshop.

Learners from Ensimbini Combined Primary School in Gamalakhe

In their first week, the TABSA team worked with 120 Grade 9 maths and science teachers in Pongola, the biggest town of the Umkhanyakude District – home to 568 schools.

The TABSA team are scheduled to work at two local schools in Matubaba and Jozini with 100 teachers at each location. The team will end this year's workshop with 312 Grade 12 maths and science teachers in the third week.

The TABSA workshops align with the National Curriculum Standards and have been tailored to meet the very specific needs of teachers attending. The workshops offer teachers from rural schools much needed guidance and tools to perform as effective educators.

TABSA plans to redirect focus on computer and uniform projects

In a recent interview with the South Coast Herald, Mr Peer indicated that this may be the last year of the teacher training programme. Although the workshops have been popular among teachers and over one million pupils have benefited from their teachers' upgraded skills, Mr Yunus explained that the “Department of Education has wavered in its support of the project, making it difficult for TABSA to continue to commit to returning every year.”

TABSA plans to divert its focus instead on its computer and uniform projects for rural schools.